A Tempered Analysis Of The $27,495 Slate Truck EV Pickup

Under $20,000***! Jeff Bezos! Customizable! Electric! Smaller Than A Ford Maverick! Let’s cut through the marketing, and try to determine if this thing is genuinely exciting.

Last week, to much fanfare, a brand new automaker took the wraps off a genuinely compact electric pickup truck. This generated many headlines, all eager to connect Jeff Bezos’ name to a price tag that definitely won’t be anywhere close to “under $20,000.”

The fanfare, combined with the unquestioning embrace of easily disproven marketing claims is reminiscent of the launch of another electric pickup: the Rivian R1T.

Way back in 2018, that thing also debuted in Los Angeles, at a star studded event featuring Rihanna. And also way back then, I wrote a piece about it, with a headline that began, “A Tempered Analysis…” And boy did that kick off some fun. Despite helping friends plan some minor details around the press launch, I was left off the list for that event. And when Rivian did eventually come looking for coverage in Outside (a publication I brought coverage of cars and trucks to for the first time when I joined that team a decade ago), they deliberately sought out any writer other than me to provide that. After that outlet began running my copy past the ad sales department for approval, I’ve stopped writing about vehicles for it.

I’m not setting out to be a skeptic here. I’m enthusiastic about the future of electric vehicles, I love seeing plucky upstarts challenge the auto industry’s way too risk averse norms, and I’ve always enjoyed the genuine utility provided by affordable, economical vehicles more than the speed or luxury of the fancy stuff. I’m even a reluctant convert to the whole order-a-vehicle-years-before-its-design-is-even finished business model. I timed my order for a Scout Terra Harvester to the precise minute order books opened, to make sure I’m one of the first customers to get my hands on one of those, sometime in the year 3527 when they eventually deliver the thing.

BUT, I also live in a rural area of the country, and use my trucks very hard. Both extreme weather and the whole vehicle-based adventure travel thing are part of my every day life. Because I also used to be a car journalist, you guys look to me to provide the voice of reality when it comes analyzing the genuine merits of new vehicles. So let’s do exactly that for this Slate Truck, which definitely isn’t going to cost anything close to $20,000, and which likely has Jeff Bezos scratching his head, wondering why his name is being thrown around in connection to it.